MALAYSIA: Nearly 3,000 government employees in Malaysia were caught taking bribes over the past 10 years, the country’s Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Law and Institutional Reform), Datuk Seri Azalina Othman Said, told the country’s lawmakers on Friday (Aug 15).
The Minister said in a written parliamentary reply that, based on data from the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC), between 2015 and June 30, 2025, there were 4,896 arrests recorded for accepting bribes and 1,689 for giving bribes, for a total of 6,585 cases.
“Of the cases involving the acceptance of bribes, 2,965 involved public servants, followed by 1,101 private sector employees, 119 government-linked company (GLC) workers, 680 members of the public, and 31 politicians.
For cases involving the giving of bribes, 47 involved public servants, followed by 511 private sector employees, 64 GLC workers, 1,061 members of the public, and six politicians,” she said.
As the question asked involved a breakdown of bribe givers and recipients by race and age, as well as by career, she provided the following information.
By far, Malays had the most cases of receiving bribes, 3,690, while the Chinese had 494 cases, the Indians had 263 cases, and other ethnic groups had 449 cases.
When it came to giving bribes, the Chinese topped the list with 630 cases, followed by Malays with 390 cases, and Indians with 151 cases. Other ethnic groups had a total of 518 cases.
Among the cases of receiving bribes over the past decade, 2,603 cases involved persons aged 40 years and younger, 2,097 were aged between 41 and 60, and 196 were aged 61 and older.
As for cases of giving bribes, 981 were 40 years old and below, 622 were aged between 41 to 60, and 86 were 61 years old and above.
In the latest Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), Malaysia ranks 57th out of 180 countries. Singapore, meanwhile, is third on the Index. Interestingly, while Singapore is first on the list among countries in Southeast Asia, Malaysia comes in second despite the large gap in their rankings.
Last November, Azam Baki, the chief of MACC, said that 44 per cent of the arrests made by the anti-corruption agency involved civil servants.
According to a report in Free Malaysia Today, Cuepacs, an umbrella group for civil service unions, said that there have been civil servants who were “forced” to receive bribes due to pressure from certain parties.
Abdul Rahman Nordin, Cuepacs’ secretary-general, had made this remark when he commented on Malaysia’s rank in the Corruption Perceptions Index. /TISG
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